Treat airport as a business, Airports Council official urges
Countries like St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) have the potential to attract tourists and become major destinations says Director General of Airports Council International – Latin America and the Caribbean (ACILAC) Rafael Echevarne.
However, according to Echevarne, whose organisation represents the interest of many airports in the world, countries must focus on their airports and make sure that they are up to standard and attractive while looking at non-traditional markets for tourists.
Speaking at Sandals during this year’s Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority’s (ECCAA) Eastern Caribbean Airports Executive Forum, Echevarne said that SVG needs to think beyond its traditional approach to tourism and make greater use of its airport as a tool for attracting visitors and stimulating economic activity.
He said that stronger cooperation between the airport, government and tourism authorities is critical to positioning SVG in the minds of potential visitors as the Caribbean remains an aspirational destination for travellers from Europe, the United States and Canada, while Latin America is a largely untapped market with significant potential.
“…looking at the evolution of (airline) traffic, the good thing is that the Eastern Caribbean has already… surpassed the levels that we had before the pandemic, which is a good thing.
“And you know, we expect the traffic to keep on growing within the parameters…that the tourism industry dictates for our part of the world, which is basically linked to population itself and also to the supply of hotel rooms,” Echevarne said.
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